1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to boat hull construction and particularly to shallow draft boats such as scooters. A scooter is typically a relatively small, generally flat-bottomed boat. Scooters and like boats may be used in extremely shallow water and are commonly used by sport fishermen to enter excellent but inaccessable fishing areas such as back bays and mud flat areas.
The very first scooters were quite primitive, somewhat resembling small box-like sleds in shape, and were caused to float by attachment of various makeshift buoyant bodies such as life jackets, cans, etc. These early scooters were motor driven. They were usually made of wood and were steered simply by the passenger leaning to one side or the other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As improved materials such as fiberglass have become more readily available, scooters have become larger and more sophisticated. However, they still retain the box-like sled type configuration which allows them to be used in extremely shallow waters but which also makes them difficult to control and uncomfortable to ride. Conventional scooters are flat-bottomed with blunt bow sections. Their sides are disposed at about 90.degree. to their bottoms and meet in a relatively sharp angle at the chines. The bottoms generally lack keels, or other depending structures.
One of the major disadvantages with such conventional scooters is the lack of control when turning. The boat tends to slide sideways in a turn, due to its flat bottom, and/or will stop dead, throwing objects off the deck. The relatively sharp chines and substantially perpendicular sides and bottom make the boat tend to hang into a wave when turning and cause "trip" or a bouncing effect. The blunt bow section makes the boat rough and wet riding.
Any attempts to eliminate these problems by using conventional keels, centerboards, curved bottoms, etc. such as are found on deeper draft boats, would make the scooter valueless for its primary purpose, i.e. use in extremely shallow waters.